Garry/al-fan

While the old chestnut about the pacing being slow because Omega Flight was downgraded from an on-going to a mini-series is beginning to wear thin, the potential within this series is not being presented despite Scot Kolins attempts to illustrate an attentively-detailed story. The art and the words are not working together and that is why the book comes across as lackluster.

Unfortunately, this issue (# 3, the middle issue) was not the time to produce a clunker. This was the issue where everybody should have brought their A-game---from the writer to the editor to the letterer---to justify the existence of this title in a croweded field of super-teams and prove that this team deserves to have an on-going series.

It didn't happen.

First and foremost, the Wrecking Crew got too much of the dialog, and making them say they're scared negates the beefing up that they've been undergoing in the last two issues. Moreover, most of their witless banter was unnecessary and should have been cut for greater impact.

Second, Agent Brown is in over his head. Charged by the Prime Minister to put a team together to defend Canada from threats like Diasy (taken down by Arachne and US Agent) and The Wrecking Crew, by his own admission couldn't get a team of Canadians together in time, sent a traumatized Sasquatch alone to fight the Crew, did not stand up to Tony Stark, and didn't say anything about the bigger picture (saving peoples lives) when Talisman and US Agent threw their hissy-fits. Mind you, I totally agree with Talisman's argument against Pointer, but Brown is supposed to be the head honcho...but he's not acting like one. Lastly, Michael Pointer is portrayed as a human time-bomb who could "flare out like a sun." Yeah, I'd want someone like that watching my back.

Lastly, if they had just moved the "This is cosmic!" line to the full-page spread of Beta Ray Bill, I might have been able to forget (for a moment) that Snowbird and Shaman('s Ghost) are not included, which would've given a glimmer of hope that the good guys have a chance to prevail.

Wolverine: Firebreak is an excellent example of how to tell a concise story. Both the lead and the back-up have a beginning, middle, and end...complete stories that do something and say something.

While I like Scott Kolins' artwork, the artwork in the back-up illustrated the downbeat garishness well. Although I know it will never happen, Mike Carey (whose writing I've liked due to the X-Men Annual featuring Northstar and Aurora) and Scott Kolins (who can tell a story, old school-style) would be a good team to do an Alpha Flight story (or mini-series).

Wolverine: Firebreak proves that this creative team is capable of telling a compelling story, and if I could get a Christmas gift from MARVEL, a Carey-Kolins Alpha Flight would be it.

FYI: It is Hydra, not A.I.M., who are the bad-guys.